Rating: 5 Stars

Publisher: Red Tower Books

Tags: Fantasy, Romantasy, Dragons, Humour, Emotional, Dark, Not a Standalone Series *TW Death, Gore

Length: 757 Pages

Reviewer: Kazza

Purchase At: amazon

Blurb:

After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty.

Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.

Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything.

They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth.

But a storm is coming…and not everyone can survive its wrath.

The Empyrean series is best enjoyed in order.
Reading Order:
Book #1 Fourth Wing
Book #2 Iron Flame
Book #3 Onyx Storm

Review: 

*THIS IS BOOK #3. THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS 

I will not die today.
I will save him.
—Violet Sorrengail’s personal addendum to the Book of Brennan.

(^Awesome mantra change^)

Onyx Storm picks up after the potentially life changing events and then holy wow last sentence in Iron Flame. A lot has gone down and Violet is trying to track Xaden through the bond, but there’s a fuzzy, icy-onyx bond. Since he’s turned venin and all. Being honest, I was not expecting to see much of Xaden in this book because, again, venin. Definitely not living and sleeping with Violet. Not fighting alongside others in Navarre or Aretia. Certainly didn’t have him down on my Onyx Storm Bingo Card as becoming one of the professors at Basgiath. No complaints from this devotee. I welcomed having him on page. A lot.

Gold-flecked onyx eyes meet mine, and my breath stabilizes only when I realize he’s unharmed and there isn’t a single trace of red to be found anywhere near his irises. He may technically be an initiate, but he’s nothing like the venin we just fought.

Bhodi, Garrick, and Imogen all know he’s turned and unequivocally have his back. Every one of them, except Violet, wears the relic of their parents being in the Tyrrish rebellion revolution and executed for it. Xaden isn’t presenting with full-blown venin-red eyes or the veining. His eyes go a strawberry colour, but not for long. How long this will last is anyone’s guess as they don’t have any data to compare it to. They keep Jack-fucking-Barlowe as their lab venin to see what they can learn. Not much is the answer. He’ll come back to bite them in the arse in someway. They know that the dark wielders have a hierarchy – initiates, asim, Sage, Maven – that they now have powerful signet wielders, and they are growing in strength, manoeuvres, and numbers with their dragon counterparts, the wyvern. Violet’s nightmares about being in a field, facing off against a venin sage is becoming more and more persistent. She isn’t the only one living them either.

Mira, Violet’s sister, also a rider, is out fighting and coming and going. Wherever Mira is you know someone’s getting punched or kneed. I’m down with her direct communication style. Brennan, Violet’s brother, is in the thick of who gets what and how within the newly formed Senarium. Think peace summit or treaty. Also think how useless they generally are in real life. The dragon’s second hatching ground at Aretia is a hot topic. The wards. Letting refugees behind said wards. That Basgiath always wants everything their way. They’re also hashing out terms around searching isles off the Continent that will help find the irids. In the last book, Iron Flame, they discover that Andarna is a seventh dragon breed when they only thought there were six. They need the seventh breed to fire up the wardstone(s) and to hopefully counter the dark wielders. 

Andarna is excited about the possibility of meeting her family and makes requests via Violet to the Senarium to search the isles. Long story short, they take the journey they want not the one mapped out by the Senarium cronies. They travel a lot, take a handful of riders and fliers that are Violet-approved and get on with what I called the complicated Magical Mystery Tour of the Isles. I say complicated because they are all problematic in their own right, with different gods being favoured or tests being given. They have diplomatic and strategic consequences attached to them all as well and their own magic. Most of the isles created real challenges, some dire, and Violet does her version of the fuck around and find out. Loved that for her, also Xaden. His mum and her second husband are twats. 

“Time for your test.  Do you know why arinmint is illegal to export? Why it’s against the rules to take it outside Aretia?” 
“The fucking tea,” Faris hisses, shooting a glare at Talia.
I lift his empty goblet and turn it upside down. “And you drank it all.” I tsk at him, then set it back on the table.

Faris blanches. “How do I know you’re not bluffing? That what you’ve given us is deadly?”
“You don’t.” I shrug. “But as soon as you or your wife starts vomiting blood, I’m afraid the antidote won’t do you any good. Times ticking.”

Because he doesn’t have enough going on, Xaden presents with a second signet. Not one that the College tolerates, we’ve already seen one of the cadets have his neck snapped at Basgiath for the same signet. And that’s not the biggest humdinger, if Basgiath College leadership knew he’d channelled magic from the earth in the last battle, he’d already be long dead. So yep, Xaden has a lot to keep a lid on. While he’s behind wards it’s easier for him to control his darker side. Travelling to find the irids gives Xaden occasional opportunities to relax a little when there is no magic, but he misses his dragon bond then. When there is magic, and a lot of places around the Continent have magic, he has to control himself, particularly when he has heightened emotion. No matter what Violet says, Violet in danger has his emotion’s utmost attention. 

For fellow shadow lovers, Xaden’s shadows are amped up in Onyx Storm. It’s his primary way of touching base with Violet and it’s a way for Xaden to feel and show intimacy because he fears he can’t always touch her without losing control. Hence, Xaden doesn’t fully trust himself. He wants Violet to agree with him about the fact that it isn’t an ‘if’ but a ‘when’ for him going full venin. But he’s barking up the wrong tree because Violet believes in Xaden and his shadows. Time and again he’s proven himself. She sees the love he has for her. His gentle side and his shadowy side that collectively take her and worthy others into account. Even with the venin nature showing more and more, she has a way to calm him and she always leans into that because- 

Xaden is mine. My heart, my soul, my everything. He channeled from the earth to save me, and I’ll scour the world until I find a way to save him right back. Even if it takes bargaining with Tecarus for access to every book on the damned Continent or capturing dark wielders one by one to question, I’ll find a cure.

I was here for the epistolary nature of the notes to Violet within the storyline. I’ve always loved the precursor to a chapter in the previous two books – the journals, the Book of… etc, but this is next level. Violet gets mail; including from Xaden, the venin, yep, the dark wielders like to drop a note, Violet’s late father, a High Priestess of Dunne, Aaric.   

Progressively, for all the exceptional control Xaden has, and he does, it becomes harder for him to keep the lid on the venin side of himself. His eyes have an amber baseline when it was always golden before. He has a countdown going on from when he last pulled magic from the earth but you know it’s an inevitability that he’ll do it again and fully turn. One of the biggest aspects of the three books to date is that he loves Violet. She’s his home. And while Violet is his home, Tyrrendor is his family. Xaden is not just a Rider now, he’s recognised as the Sixteenth Duke of Tyrrendor. The throne is his and, as we’ve already seen, he knows what to do about that no matter how sexy, (Iron Flame) or dark things are, and they get pretty fucking dark in this book.

I want to talk about Violet for a moment. She’s really stepped her game up to the next level of badassery in this book. Whether that was being ‘treasonous’ – again – extending the wardstone at Basgiath to Aretia, or telling the Senarium this is her dragon and these are her and Andarna’s rules. End of, bish! Fighting for other people beyond the wards who are desperate to get behind them. Both Xaden and Violet want to take in the people seeking safety that the powers-that-be in Navarre don’t want. She gets into the thick of it with fellow Navarrian Riders – looking at you Aura Beinhaven- who are being xenophobic at Basgiath. To add to all of this, she drops another signet and it’s a beauty! A definite double neck-snapper within Basgiath. Then there’s dealing with the fact that her heart, her lover, is now venin because he did what was best others. For her. If he’ll fight and stay in the game for this relationship with her, Violet knows she’ll find a cure. He will not hurt her. He’s killed plenty of venin since turning. But he has contingencies just in case. She won’t hear of losing Xaden to the dark wielders. It’s not an option in Violet’s mind, and I absolutely respected her for that. 

Other bits and pieces:

Violet’s bonded dragons, Tairn and Andarna, remain special. Andarna is growing, emotionally and physically. Tairn is as tough as teak. I worry about both of them. Every time they go into battle I’m holding my breath.   

This book was an emotional rollercoaster, I was waiting for the axe to drop quite a lot. Dain’s father has come back into the fold as Lilith Sorrengail’s replacement as the Commanding General of Basgiath. A kick in the guts for Violet, Mira, and Brennan. He starts off in peak assholitry mode, but soon drops by the wayside as he is outmanoeuvred by Violet and then other events take over. Also, another couple of players step up as the primary antagonists, predominantly Theophanie, then Berwyn. Both powerful and annoying venin.

Shout out to Dain Aetos. Still maligned by some, he needs some real solidarity coming his way. He accepts Violet is with Xaden, has for a while. He lost his father when he did the right thing when shit got real. He’s more solid than ever throughout this book. He steals from his father’s office at Basgiath to help Violet’s searches. I worry he’s going to be a casualty at some stage and he doesn’t deserve that fate.

Halden, Aaric’s older brother, is Violet’s ex. He’s a pretty quick speedhump in the book.

Ridoc is a good friend who is an amazing and genuinely funny character. He and his bonded dragon, Aotrom, are both smart Aleks and made me laugh. I felt a bit torn about his ultimatum to Violet and Xaden when he finds out what’s happened to Xaden. I get it. He’s asked previously for no secrets between their group. He’s a trained cadet and rider who is thinking about general safety. It’s not always that simple but, technically, Xaden violates that safety. 

It’s nice to see Sawyer back after his horrible injury. 

I know both Rhiannon and Imogen were more on the sidelines of this book. I didn’t mind because there are so many characters in this series that others stepped up. Both got a POV chapter. I felt Rhiannon’s was unnecessary. Imogen’s was necessary. 

Aaric is coming down the outside stretch now, overtaking a lot of other characters in the field with his gods-damned charisma. He needs to survive the killing fields of The Empyrean series and just maybe get a spin-off series or a book. He’s confident, unassuming, and increasingly on point. Knew his signet. Glad he showed it.     

What do Xaden and Violet have in common with the goddess Dunne toward the end of this book? Wrath. I’m interested if this was just a one off for that incredible pre-ending, or if there is more? 

A gift of one servant of Dunne to another. I must warn you – only those touched by the gods should wield their wrath. I will pray to Her that she need not use it to avoid reacquainting herself with the other who curries her favor. Her path is still not set. 

The romance side of this fantasy world is a beautiful-terrible thing. Beautiful because the love is a tangible entity throughout. Yarros has a great affinity with the MCs, Violet and Xaden. You could say, ‘well, she writes them’ but sometimes authors deviate with character’s in a negative way during a series. I’m not talking about events which create difficulties, I mean their personality can sometimes be altered. I’m glad the author has thus far stayed the course, in that they love one another deeply and profoundly and their core behaviours and relationship seem to be a solid, non-negotiable. This makes me very happy. Even during times of peril, their love knows no bounds. They trust in their relationship and each other. Some around Violet felt she was crazy to trust Xaden anymore but she knows him like no one else ever has. She has been nothing but a revelation to him.

“I’ve seen the moments you don’t just rise to the occasion—you own it. Deverelli. Unnbriel. You poisoned the entire triumvirate of Hedotis, for fuck’s sake. Imagine who you’ll become when you finally learn to not just embrace that confidence but live it.”

She’s going to need to embrace that confidence even further leading into the fourth book in the series. I suspect the “fun” is just about to begin for Violet. Still, no matter what’s thrown at them, they hold the line. Terrible, because there is always another fight or lesson to learn or something lurking around the corner that shortens the ability for a cure or for their romance to thrive. Something that heightens the increasingly fragmented future they may have. 

“And I’m making sure Violet’s capable of killing me when the time comes. If it’s between her and me, I choose her. Kill the other guy I become.”
My eyes narrow on the beautiful asshole I’ve foolishly given my heart to. “It’s not going to come to that.”
“Holy shit. Is that noble? Is that twisted? I can’t decide.” Ridoc pats me on the shoulder, then starts back toward camp. “I’ve never been happier to be single. You two have some serious issues.”

Well yes, Ridoc. Dark times and all.

The fantasy world is vivid, throughout the isles, between Basgiath and Aretia. The nightmares. The dragons. The signets. The battle between the dark wielders and those who want to stop it from killing off everything decent, it’s so tangible. You could just reach out… and touch it. You know you are in another place, a fantasy world in chaos. The build up to that ending of this book, and then the ending itself was like sitting through a nuclear explosion. I’m left wondering who is going to find a cure, and how? How frighteningly powerful will our boy Xaden become? Will love be able to find a way without knowledge, a bond, or maybe no desire for a bond? Violet is the one with a head full of ideas, but…. I won’t spoil, the ending. 

Overview:

Onyx Storm builds beautifully off the back of the previous two books and really slaps you in the face with the world, the romance, the fantasy elements, the ending. Friends and foe. God, I don’t know how long it’s going to take for the next series book. No matter how long, it’s already too long. I love this world. This series. These characters. I’m going to call it and say that Violet and Xaden have become my new favourite fictional characters – and I’m old. I’ve read a lot of books. This series is one of those rare ones that actually becomes like an addiction. I hate it and I love it. My son warned me, “Mum, don’t read this until the last book is out.” He reiterated that again to me today when I lamented about having series withdrawals. Pffft. Whatever! It’s too late for me. Hook me up! I’m going to listen to this on audiobook now. Emotional. Epic. Romance for days reading. 5 Stars!